Gerty T. Cori (1896 - 1957)

Gerty Theresa Cori was a Jewish Austrian-American biochemist who in 1947 was the third woman—and first American woman—to win a Nobel Prize in science, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for her role in the discovery of glycogen metabolism.

Cori was born in Prague (then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now the Czech Republic). Gerty was not a nickname, but rather she was named after an Austrian warship. Growing up at a time when women were marginalized in science and allowed few educational opportunities, she gained admittance to medical school, where she met her future husband Carl Ferdinand Cori in an anatomy class; upon their graduation in 1920, they married.

Because of deteriorating conditions in Europe, the couple emigrated to the United States in 1922. Gerty Cori continued her early interest in medical research, collaborating in the laboratory with Carl. She published research findings coauthored with her husband, as well as publishing singly.

Unlike her husband, she had difficulty securing research positions, and the ones she obtained provided meager pay. Her husband insisted on continuing their collaboration, though he was discouraged from doing so by the institutions that employed him. source: Wikipedia

Known for
With her husband Carl and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay, Gerty Cori received the Nobel Prize in 1947 for the discovery of the mechanism by which glycogen—a derivative of glucose—is broken down in muscle tissue into lactic acid and then resynthesized in the body and stored as a source of energy (known as the Cori cycle).

They also identified the important catalyzing compound, the Cori ester.

Carbohydrate metabolism

Identification of Glucose 1-phosphate

Find more
Wikipedia

Exton, John H. (2013). Crucible of science : the story of the Cori Laboratory. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ignotofsky, Rachel (2016). Women in science: 50 fearless pioneers who changed the world (1st ed.). New York: Ten Speed Press.